Wärtsilä to convert short-sea ship to hybrid battery power

The first-of-its-kind retrofitting will have the battery sufficiency to allow the Hagland Shipping AS vessel to sail in and out of harbor on electric power for about 30 minutes.    Finnish technology group Wärtsilä announced Friday it had signed an agreement with Hagland Shipping AS to make the Hagland Captain the first short-sea cargo ship retrofitted to hybrid battery power.   
   The battery capacity will be sufficient to allow the ship to sail in and out of harbor on electric power for about 30 minutes, Wärtsilä said.
   Included in the conversion are a shore power connection to provide power for loading and unloading operations and battery charging, a new reduction gear with power takeoff and power take-in technology and a Wärtsilä NOx reducer.
   The total reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions after the retrofit are estimated at 80 percent to 90 percent, and fuel cost savings are expected to be 5 percent to 10 percent, according to the release.
   The agreement was signed in December.
   The project is in response to a collaborative agreement between Hagland Shipping and NOAH AS, a Norwegian environmental and resource company, that shipping materials to Norway’s island of Langøya is required via environmentally sound vessels.